Jim Carrey Looks Like a Messed-Up Mister Rogers in the Trailer for 'Kidding'

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From the first trailer for Jim Carrey's new Showtime series Kidding, it's very clear that his and director Michel Gondry's fingerprints will be all over the show. Cue whimsical stop motion animation and deep melancholy, with a hint of some fucked-up shit for good measure. 

Carrey plays Jeff Pickles, the immensely popular and wholesome host of a children's show rife with colorful characters and lessons. Think: Mister Rogers, but if all the rumors of a hidden darker side were true. He's even got a tie and a sweater. Well, sweater vest, but you get the picture. The show, however, kicks off with Jeff reeling. One of his sons was killed in a car crash, and he's separated from his wife (Judy Greer), who has moved on and started a a new relationship. As you can see in the trailer, mania begins to seep into his psyche -- and in a world that's already filled with puppets, the dissolution of a man's sanity looks pretty surreal and creepy. It's also set to The Flaming Lips.

Carrey, meanwhile, is tapping both the kinetic energy that made him a comedy juggernaut, and the well of pathos that endeared him to critics in his more serious roles, especially Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which also featured Gondry as director. The series kicks off September 9. 

 

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Esther Zuckerman is a senior entertainment writer at Thrillist. Follow her on Twitter @ezwrites.